Private health insurance

Before you take out health insurance, it’s important to understand how it works. Health insurance covers you for conditions that start after your policy has begun.

You will usually pay a monthly fee. Then you can make claims for any private healthcare you receive if it is covered by your policy.

One of the main benefits of private healthcare is that you’ll often get access to treatment faster than on the NHS. Health insurance may also be able to get you access to new drugs or specialist treatments.

Learn more about how health insurance works

Your health insurance policy will begin from the date you've chosen your policy to start and set up your Direct Debit. Once you’re set up, we’ll send you your cover documents.

All our policies are different, so it’s important to check your policy document for your confirmed start day.

Find out what is and isn't covered

An excess is the amount you’ll have to pay towards treatment when you make a claim.

The excess you choose can have a big impact on the cost of your health cover. So, it’s important to understand how it works.

If you choose to have a higher excess, your policy could be cheaper. But, if you do choose a higher excess, you’ll have to contribute more when you make a claim.

With our health cover, your excess is payable just once per policy year.

For example, imagine your excess is £250. If you made a claim for £500 in the first month of your policy year, you would pay £250 towards this. We would pay the remaining £250. After this, you wouldn’t need to pay excess again until you started a new policy year.

Not every private health insurance policy will have the same kind of excess, so it’s important to consider all the excess options available. Both of our health insurance policies, Treatment and Care and Comprehensive offer flexible excess options. You can choose £0, £100, £150, £200, £250 or £500.

Learn more about health insurance excess

There are a few ways to lower the cost of your health insurance cover. It’s important to remember that a cheaper plan might not provide all the cover you need.

You could choose a higher excess to reduce the monthly cost of your health insurance. However, this would mean that you would have to pay more if you needed treatment. Some health insurance comes with savings if you’re a couple or if you insure your family.

Several factors influence the cost of your health insurance. Lifestyle choices, like smoking for example, may increase your monthly premium. So, if you choose to stop smoking, it’s important to tell us, as this may reduce the cost of your cover.

How to lower the cost of health insurance

Health insurance is designed to cover conditions and symptoms that develop after your cover has started. This means you wouldn’t be covered for conditions and symptoms that you had before your cover has started. Insurers often call these pre-existing conditions.

You also wouldn’t be covered for issues that relate to your pre-existing conditions. Although, in some circumstances, your insurer may cover some symptoms. It’s important to understand what won’t be covered on our policy.

Your policy also may not cover any ongoing or incurable conditions, such as diabetes or arthritis. Insurers often call these chronic conditions.

A chronic condition is a condition that:

• Needs ongoing or long-term monitoring through consultations, examinations, check-ups and/or tests
• Needs ongoing or long-term control or relief of symptoms
• Has no known cure
• Comes back or is likely to come back
• Continues indefinitely
• Requires your rehabilitation or for you to be specially trained to cope with it

Depending on your policy, you may be able to claim for chronic condition flare-ups. Always check with your insurer if you’re unsure whether you’re covered.

Learn more about health insurance exclusions

No, there isn’t an age limit for taking out health insurance cover. To be fair to everyone, age is one of the factors we use to calculate the costs of your policy.

The benefits of taking out health insurance when you get older are the same as with any age.

Whatever your age, if you are looking to take out health insurance, you can get a quote online or by calling us.

Get a quote

Yes, you can add your partner, providing you both live at the same address or dependents onto your policy at any time.

The cost of your couple’s health insurance or family health insurance will depend on multiple factors. These include:

• where you live
• your ages
• your health
• how much excess you choose to pay

If you’d like to add someone onto your Bupa health insurance policy, call us on 0345 609 0111. Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, Saturday 8am to 4pm and bank holidays 8am to 1pm. We may record or monitor our phone calls.